74 Rx4 GTR

CamanoRx2 · **Posted:** Fri Feb 10, 2012 8:17 pm

Fiberglass Rx4 hood on the way! Scored it from the Rx7club site. Sourcing part for these is a serious PIA. Gotta jump when stuff surfaces.....

Nothing new to report on the shop- other than psyching myself into ordering $1200 worth of sheetrock(136 sheets!). Once thats here I can get serious about making progress. That, and putting in 70 hour weeks slows things a bit.

You got parts? You let me know....

Rotarydave · **Posted:** Fri Feb 10, 2012 11:10 pm

good hit on the hood i was looking at it myself but i got some NOS Sa22c stuff instead

CamanoRx2 · **Posted:** Mon Feb 13, 2012 8:08 pm

Minor setback/schedule bump- Spoke with a steel building installer, told him what I was doing. When the guy put my building up, he did not lay vapor barrier between the roof sheeting and the joists. It will sweat inside, especially during the spring and fall, when there are larger temperature swings. With the insulation covered by sheet rock, eventually it will get too wet, sag, and fail. So..... this summer, I will be pulling roof panels, installing the vapor barrier, and re-installing. HAS to be done. Figure I will burn a week of vaca once it gets warm/dry enough here (Sadly, the END of July, usually), and knock it out with a buddy. In the meantime, I will press on with all the other projects I have to work on (510, CIvic eng/trans swap, Rx2 and Rx7, ladder, joist mod, etc....) Wanted to sequence this out different, but this is how its gonna be.

Dammit.

CamanoRx2 · **Posted:** Mon Jul 30, 2012 12:54 pm

Interesting in my last post that I said it would be near the end of July...as I'm currently laying down the vapor barrier...

1st pic shows where my big cat went through the open roof panel and fell 16 ft to the concrete. Luckily, he is fine. I'm just about done- a total of about 36 hrs to get it done. Did it by myself, just because the sequence that I came up with to be the most efficient and safe, there's not much a second person can do. That, and I am the guy who HATE's asking someone to do something for me, yet I'm the first one to help someone else. Odd. Had to get it done, as I am more than likely heading out of country for a month or more to fix a broken plane (YouTube ANA hard landing 767- That's what I'm going to repair), and have to take advantage of the weather while its here.

Tried to add pics, and it says the board attachment quota has been reached. Huh?

CamanoRx2 · **Posted:** Thu Nov 08, 2012 8:24 am

In Japan- on a big repair on an ANA 767. YouTube 'ANA 767 hard landing 6/20/12'. That's the plane....

Going to try and visit REAnemiya before I leave. Been here since 10/7, and will be here for another 10-15 days.... Pics when I return....

beans161 · **Posted:** Fri Nov 09, 2012 2:43 am

Looked up the clip, all I can say is Wow. :shock:

On a lighter note, i hope your enjoying Japan! Where is RE Anemia? I'm heading over again in feb and have already booked my Mazda museum tour in Hiroshima! Can't wait.
Looking forward to seeing more progress on the pillar-less rx4.
Last question, do you have any other build threads for your 510 or other rides? Yeah I guess I should probably just do a search.... But hey why not ask. :tu:

CamanoRx2 · **Posted:** Fri Nov 16, 2012 7:13 am

Wrapping up the repair.... Functional tests, engine run, and pressure test. Hoping to get a day off to go check out some sites....

RE Anemiya is about 20 minutes from the Narita airport (where we are working), so I plan to head to the airport early the day I depart, check in, and hop a cab there.

The 510 build thread (if you can call it that- more like a non-build thread) is on the510realm.com, in the projects builds forum, 'Lift is in, car in air'....

The Rx4 is last in line, and going to be my most involved build.... Lots of rust in that one, and of course all the unobtanium...

CamanoRx2 · **Posted:** Mon Nov 26, 2012 2:32 pm

So much for the free time to hit RE Anemiya.... Was on call to stay and fix the 787 fleet until the last possible minute to be able to make my scheduled flight. Oh well, more repair trips to Japan are coming, so I'll get to some of these places eventually...

Made it home for Thanksgiving- now it's shop time! Had to replace the radiator in the big Impala wagon, dry out the Z interior (that one has to live inside), and catch up on some house stuff.... Gonna play hooky from work until 12/3. After 2 months straight of travel/12hr days, I'm enjoying sleeping in and goofing off.

Sadly, I'm not allowed to post any pics of the repair... ANA isn't interested in letting you see one of their airplanes in such a disassembled state. I see it the other way- show those who are interested that they are super sturdy and that we can fix them when they get a little wrinkled.

CamanoRx2 · **Posted:** Mon Dec 10, 2012 3:25 pm

Anyone see the gold Rx4 GTR on ebay? 25K miles, repainted, nice trim/int, missing 3 pieces of windshield molding. Spoke with (emailed) the seller, and he said he was flooded with 'theres no such car', 'Mazda never made those', etc... didn't see the final selling price, but it was in the $10K area last time I looked. Would have been smart money for me, as there's no way I'll have that small an amount in mine when I get to that point. Timing being what it is and all. Funny how it could have worked out- Car is in Georgia, I live in WA, but I got sent to New Orleans to fix a plane, and could have jumped over there and brought it home. Turns out that wouldn't have worked anyway, as on the last day of the repair, I was informed we are going to Qatar next to do the same repair there. Oh well.....someday...

CamanoRx2 · **Posted:** Thu Jan 10, 2013 7:26 pm

Found an all original 74 Rx4 coupe, manual, AC, stored inside, solid car in Auburn, WA this week. Got a text pic of the drivers side, and wow did it look promising! Until....... I got hold of the guy. He was in contact with a buyer from Puerto Rico, and if the deal fell through, I was in the hunt. $3500 was the asking price.....

Gone.

Traded to said Puerto Rican for an Rx2.

Oh well. I keep saying these cars are out there, and this just proves it. I will find one for parts/sheetmetal for the GTR. I'm hoping to find one with nice steel, and dead everything else, but, its usually the steel that craps out first.

Best of luck to both owners getting new(to them)old school Mazda's.

I need good floors. Everything else is workable/upgradable. Tin worm is a bastard.

Garant · **Posted:** Fri Jan 11, 2013 11:40 am

so close! can't compete with the puertoricans tho :lol:

RX-2Fan · **Posted:** Fri Jan 11, 2013 8:07 pm

Garant wrote:

so close! can't compete with the puertoricans tho :lol:

LOL

CamanoRx2 · **Posted:** Thu Jan 31, 2013 10:57 am

And the saga continues...

Get a call from the guy with the Rx4-says I can have it if I want. I asked what happened with the guy from PR, and am told that transport costs for the trade would be $6700, so no deal.

I tell him I need to come see the car in person, obviuosly, and if he could send me pics that would help. I get about a dozen pics of what is a partially dis-assembled car-not bad, but the front and rear facias (grill, bumpers, taillight surround, etc) are off, and it looks like it was recently ran into something on the passenger front, wrinking the fender pretty good, tweaking the core support and bumper end. Front and rear valances are pretty hammered, in fact, I don't recall even seeing a front one. Interior is a mess, glove box door hanging, cracks all over the gauge cluster, etc... Nicest part I see I see is the tail light panel- appears perfect.

No engine pics, no detailed pics of the areas that we NEED to see(floors, rockers, trunk, etc). Never got to the question of paperwork/title.

I tell him there's no way I'd go for $3500, even if the parts I need to be good, are good. He repsonds with a 'Thanks, but it's not negotiable. I'm putting it on ebay'. I wish him 'good luck', and thats where it ends.

For reference, I gave $800.00 for the GTR, and visually/mechanically it is in better in some areas, and worse in others, condition than this one. If this was a 'well preserved' driver that I found in a little old lady's garage (what I'm hoping someday to find), then sure, but this is not that.

In the same vein- are the floor structures the same for all Rx4's? that would 'widen' my search area for the parts and pieces I'm needing.

Thanks

rx7s2 · **Posted:** Fri Feb 01, 2013 7:15 am

As far as I'm aware all the rx4's share the same chassis as the 929's. I have a '74 929 sedan (flatnose) and I compared it to an original '74 rx4 sedan the only difference was obviously the motor/box and rear quater badges 929/rx4. The rest is exactly the same. So if you can find a good '73/4/5 piston powered coupe it'll be a perfect donor. obviously the chassis numbers will be different (prefixes). Good luck with the hunt.

CamanoRx2 · **Posted:** Sat Feb 02, 2013 11:39 am

If memory serves, we didn't get a piston version of the Rx4. I've never heard of, much less seen one here. Anyone else in the states run across one? It seems I'll have better luck finding a later (75-78) series Rx4 at a 'better' price than the (single year/style) 74, and if the floor structure is the same, then it'll be game on.

Found a clean one, but its in Cal.... Closer is better...

CamanoRx2 · **Posted:** Wed Feb 27, 2013 9:41 pm

I am in Boston, fixing the BBQ'd 787. No real flames, just an excess amount of heat (500 deg) from the battery. I actually took apart the burnt structure, and am repairing it. I'm going to be here for a while... lots of serious scrutiny (justifiably) on us on this one.... BSET JOB EVER.... Watch the news... that should give you an idea of the level of scrutiny we are working under all the time...

Sadly, this means I'm away from all the JNC at my house, waiting for me to have free time (HA!).....

CamanoRx2 · **Posted:** Sun May 12, 2013 12:24 pm

So, my last post was late Feb.... And I'm typing this from Boston....still.... I got to go home for 6 days after the battery fire damage repair, and came back April 5th for the battery mod. We are done, will be 'pre-flighting' tomorrow, and flight test is wednesday. I would imagine there will be some mention of the plane being in the air again in the media, but who knows. The airplane 'woke-up' really happy after being shut down for 3 1/2 months, and having us replace the entire aft electronics bay and tons of wiring, but thats why we exist. No one else is gonna be able to do it.

Home next weekend, finally. Longest repair I've been on so far....

Continually searching for Rx4 parts.....

banzaitoyota · **Posted:** Sun May 12, 2013 2:18 pm

If you get to Charleston let me know, Im in Aiken

CamanoRx2 · **Posted:** Wed May 15, 2013 10:16 am

If I ever get there, Banzai, I'll definitely look you up.

The airplane couldn't wait to get off the ground. Its a great feeling watching her leave, very similar to driving a long term project for the first time....

74 Rx4 GTR

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